Dalton man charged in officer impersonation

Dalton man charged in officer impersonation

March 29th, 2011by Staff Report in News

A Dalton, Ga., man was arrested on charges of impersonating an officer after he attempted to pull over another vehicle.

On Saturday night, a driver complained to police that Jackie Plemons, 53, of 2840 Five Springs Road, drove up next to him in a red Mustang on the Dalton Bypass and appeared to try to get him to race, police spokesman Bruce Frazier said.

The driver told police that, when he accelerated trying to pass, Plemons activated a strobe light system in the grille of his car and a blue LED light bar across his bumper, Frazier said.

The driver then called 911 and followed the Mustang to Plemons' workplace on Hamilton Street, he said.

After police arrived, Plemons told them he turned the lights on only to "say hi" and denied trying to scare the driver, Frazier said.

An inspection of the car showed that, when the lights in the grille were activated, the blue lights automatically turned on, he said. For that reason, Plemons was charged with impersonating an officer and having unauthorized lights reserved for the designation of emergency vehicles, he said.

Earlier in March, an undercover detective arrested security guard James Smith, 58, when Smith tried to pull the officer over.

When the detective saw the strobe on Smith's Ford Crown Victoria, he radioed for a marked police car and continued driving.

When Smith was arrested, he was wearing a gun belt holder with handcuffs and his security badge pinned on, Frazier said.